Tip of My Iceberg

Quarantining is messing with my people-time. It’s interfering with opportunities to connect with those I long to be with. Poor John is the recipient of my overabundance of words not used on typical workdays. Isolation and I don’t get along well.

However, three of my kids and their families live in Central Florida; to be able to see them during this time is a gift.

I’m well aware of how fortunate I am.

Three of our kids live to infinity and beyond–or they might as well. They’re spread over Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Washington DC. Not conducive to weekend drop-bys or spur-of-the-moment dinners.

I miss them all. It’s a gift to have some close; it’s hard to have others so far that we don’t see them except occasionally.

We’d talked early in the year about doing a family vacation in Pennsylvania, a time for my son and his family to show off their hard work on their new family business. They weren’t able to make our last family trip, so we looked forward to all twenty-eight of us being together

The pandemic halted those plans.

We’ve done the family zoom calls. They’ve become less frequent because life is moving on, even though every day feels like Groundhog Day. Each day repeating with uncomfortable regularity. I talk to them individually, which is such a privilege. But after a while, even phone calls feel limiting.

What I long for is what I can’t have now–face to face time with all of my kids and grands, a chance to be with them, to be in the moment, to talk with them and share silence with them when needed. The opportunity to watch the cousins play together; the laughter that always happens when my kids are together with their spouses.

I want to enjoy their company.

I can with a few; I can’t with them all. I’m so grateful for the ones who are close, but I yearn for those who are far away.

Loving up close is what my heart longs to do.

Which is precisely how God views us. His children. The ones He cherishes and yearns to spend time with.

Our Father.

Many know Him; others claim to know Him. What we all forget is how much He longs to be known by us. To grasp the depth and richness of His love for His created beings, all of whom are messy and broken.

He sacrificed His best, His only Son so that He could reestablish a relationship with us.

We’re that special to Him.

There are many who have a poor personal picture of a father. They’ve been overlooked, under-appreciated, abandoned either emotionally or physically. To imagine a Father who loves without condition because of His sheer delight in who we are is far beyond what most can grasp. We have something that nothing else in all creation has.

He formed us with His hands in His own image, with emotion, intellect, and will to be able to connect with Him. He wants us to experience His deep and abiding love for us.

Our choice.

God wants to love us from just a heart distance away.

Up close and personal.

Unbelievable love. It doesn’t get any better.